LEARNING TO USE THE DICTIONARY 61 The following columns of words illustrate the alphabetical arrangement followed in all According to which letter are the words of the first column arranged? those of the second? of the third? of the fourth? Arrange the following words beginning with a, alphabetically according to the second letter in each: IX. LEARNING TO USE THE DICTIONARY 1. Arrange the following words, all beginning with st, in alphabetical order according to the third letter in each : 2. Arrange the following words, all beginning with out, in alphabetical order according to the fourth letter in each : 3. Arrange the following words, all beginning with stre, in alphabetical order according to the fifth letter in each : stretch strew stress stream street X. THREE THINGS TO REMEMBER IN USING THE DICTIONARY 1. How to find the word: Look for the word in the alphabetical order of its letters, first, second, third, fourth, and beyond if necessary. 2. How to pronounce the word: First, see how the word is separated into syllables; second, see which syllable is accented, as indicated by this mark ('); third, note the respelling and marking of the word in parenthesis, if this is given, to indicate the pronunciation. If you should look for the word "neighbor" in a Webster's dictionary, you would find "neighbor (na'ber)." The word is respelled in the parenthesis (na'ber) to show the pronunciation; it is to be pronounced as it is respelled THINGS TO REMEMBER IN USING DICTIONARY 63 and marked in the parenthesis. The marks over the letters a and e tell how these letters are to be sounded. If you do not know the meaning of these marks, look at the bottom of the page in the dictionary, and you will find some very common word, such as "maker," with the letters a and e marked in the same way. This will mean that you are to pronounce these marked letters in (na'ber) just as you pronounce the same letters in the common word that you know how to pronounce. 3. How to get the meaning of the word: Following the word, the dictionary gives the word's meaning, either by describing, or by giving another word or words that mean the same. With many words, both of these ways are used. Often the meaning of a word is shown by its use in a sentence. Some words have two or even more quite different meanings. You must study the meanings of such words very carefully and decide which one fits, which one makes good sense, in the sentence in which you find the word used. Test yourself on these three things in the use of the dictionary. Do this by looking up the words printed in italics in the following sentence, finding the pronunciation and the meaning of each. The man who would be truly happy should not study to enlarge his estate, but to contract his desires. — PLATO XI. A TEST IN USING THE DICTIONARY The five words below are used in lessons that you will study later. 1. Find each of these words in the dictionary. 2. Copy each, dividing it into syllables. 3. Place the accent where it belongs. 4. Write the meaning after each word. Write five sentences, using a different one of these words in each sentence. Besides giving the meaning of words and showing how to pronounce words and how to divide them into syllables, the dictionary is very useful as a spelling book. Every good dictionary shows exactly how to spell all words that you will ever need to use. But how can one find words in the dictionary if he does not already know how to spell them? You can best answer this question yourself after your teacher has given you some words hard to spell and has let you look for them in the dictionary.1 1 Note to the teacher: Suggestions for conducting this lesson will be found in your Manual, page 68. FINDING DIFFERENT KINDS OF SENTENCES 65 XIII. MASTERING ONE HUNDRED WORDS HARD TO SPELL It is good to form the habit of looking in the dictionary to make sure of the spelling of unusual words. But common words, the words that you will use over and over again, you should master, so that you are sure of spelling them correctly every time you use them. The dictionary will not always be at hand, and it takes too much time to look up the spelling of a word every time you want to use it. It has been found that there are one hundred words very often used which are especially troublesome. They are frequently misspelled. Eighteen of these troublesome words are used on this page, some of them several times, so one who has not mastered these words might make more than eighteen spelling mistakes in writing this one page from dictation. Do you misspell any of these words? You will be able to answer these questions after the lesson that your teacher will give.1 XIV. FINDING DIFFERENT KINDS OF In the story, Harmosan, find: Two exclamatory sentences, 1 Note to the teacher: For the lesson, see Manual, page 69. |